Global private equity-, venture capital-backed funding rounds down in February

Global private equity and venture capital investments through rounds of funding totaled $39.8 billion in February, down 19.4% from January, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

The number of funding rounds also declined, falling 33.5% month over month to 912 — the lowest monthly tally since at least January 2024.

However, for the year through Feb. 28, the value of funding rounds nearly doubled compared to the same period last year, reaching $89.16 billion and marking a strong start to 2026.

Aggregate transaction values and volume may not match figures reported for preceding periods due to subsequently acquired disclosures and updates.

Fewer TMT deals

Most private equity and venture capital investments made through funding rounds in February went to the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector, which secured $26.8 billion — accounting for 67.3% of the total funding raised that month. However, this amount represents a 45.7% decrease from the $49.4 billion recorded in January.

The sector recorded 309 rounds of funding in February, down 22.8% from 400 in January.

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Among TMT subsectors, application software attracted the most funding rounds in February, with 171 transactions, followed by systems software with 34. Compared to the same period last year, the number of funding rounds for application software and systems software declined by 48.5% and 43.3%, respectively.

Largest deals

The largest private equity- or venture capital-backed funding round in February was a $16 billion equity raise by software company Waymo LLC. The round was co-led by Dragoneer Investment Group LLC, DST Global and Sequoia Capital Operations LLC, according to Market Intelligence data.

Two other software companies made the list of largest rounds of funding in February. World Labs Technologies Inc. raised $1 billion and Neysa Networks Private Ltd. raised $599 million.